OpenAI executive departs as company restructures scientific research division

OpenAI is losing another senior executive as the company restructures its scientific research division and streamlines product offerings ahead of a potential public listing. Kevin Weil, the former chief product officer who had been leading OpenAI's scientific AI initiatives, confirmed Friday that he's departing. Weil's exit coincides with OpenAI sunsetting Prism, a web application launched in January to help scientists work with AI, and folding its 10-person team into the Codex division. "Today is my last day at OpenAI, as OpenAI for Science is being decentralized into other research teams," Weil stated on social media. The former Instagram product executive joined OpenAI in June 2024 and launched the OpenAI for Science initiative last September. OpenAI confirmed the changes as part of a broader effort to unify business strategy, with the company focusing resources on core areas like enterprise offerings and coding tools while facing increased competition from rivals like Anthropic. The Prism team will report to Codex head Thibault Sottiaux as OpenAI integrates its scientific capabilities into the desktop Codex application. Two additional executives announced departures Friday: chief technology officer of enterprise applications Srinivas Narayanan, who is leaving to spend time with family, and Sora video generation head Bill Peebles. These exits follow recent executive reshuffling that included medical leaves for CEO of AGI deployment Fidji Simo and chief marketing officer Kate Rouch, plus chief operating officer Brad Lightcap's move to a special projects role. CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the organizational turbulence in a recent blog post, writing that "OpenAI is now a major platform, not a scrappy startup, and we need to operate in a more predictable way now."